Dogtag Hunting

Yep, this is about Metal Gear Solid 2. I've also recently learned that you can dogtag hunt in the GCN version of Metal Gear Solid. Also, spoilers abound, don't read further if you don't want to know.

Anyway, anyone ever get all dogtags on all difficulties? I sure as heck know that I haven't :lol:. How do you do it?
If I'm playing normally, I sneak up behind them with the M9 and tell them to "freeze" (aim your gun at them when you're close), then I hold L1, walk around and aim at his face. If it's a "tough guy," I continue to hold square and switch for the USP/SOCOM (Snake/Raiden), then shoot him in the arm. After he shakes his dogtag out, I shoot him in the face with whatever gun I have (the "though guys" shouldn't have been so stingy :p). Now, if I'm using the stealth camoflauge (spelling?), then I just walk up to their face, tell them to "freeze," tap L2 to unequip the stealth, and continue on like normal.

While we're on the subject of dogtags, what did you put your name and iformation as at the first node as Raiden? On my first play through, I put Jolts as the name, and some stuff for the info (can't remember). On my current and second play through, I put the name as "Sex Crazy Man" and some random information (also can't remember).

Now for a question for help (for whoever feels like answering). What are all the "special" dogtags? I know Olga's and Snake's, but are there others where you have to get them a different way?

I finished getting all the dogtags in MGS2 a little over a month ago. I guess it took me a couple weeks all in all, but I wasn't playing constantly. Then I started to get them all on The Twin Snakes, but I quickly burned out and haven't gone back to it since.

Once I have the infinite ammo bandana, I always keep it equipped when holding up guards; it's actually very useful in the tanker chapter on the more difficult settings, when, by way of tranquilizers, you have to clear a path of Marines to one Marine with dogtags and have very little ammo with which to do so. The rest of the time is just about me being crazy about conserving ammo, though. When taking off the stealth camouflage, I even make sure to switch into the bandana.

I also never eliminate guards once I've got their tags, since I always go for zero kills on my record. Other than that, though, my procedure is prettymuch the same as yours.

As for tags you don't hold up guards in order to acquire, the first are Olga's, which you get by shaking her unconscious body after the battle with her on the tanker. Next are Peter Stillman's, which you get from Fatman; you have to move Fatman's body in order to disarm the C4 after the battle anyway, so it'd be difficult to miss these tags. Finally, there are the tags carried by Solid Snake; you can get them by knocking him out with punches and kicks any time while you're together with him inside Arsenal Gear, though I'd recommend you do it in the Ascending Colon, before you're thrown into battle and should be paying more attention to your own survival. Of course, it takes several punch-punch-kick combos to knock Snake out, and he gets up after each one to smack you around a bit, so you have to be on the defensive one way or another. The tags Snake carries are those of Iroquois Pliskin in Very Easy mode, those of Meryl Silverburgh in Easy Mode, his very own in Normal mode, those of Liquid Snake in Hard mode, and those of Hideo Kojima in Extreme mode.

Never could be bothered collecting all the dogtags would of taken for ever what with all the difficulty settings. However It does remind me of something thats mildly amusing to do in MGS2 that I found out when I was trying to get dogtags.

Sneak up behind someone and tell them to "freeze". Now shoot there radio out. Then shoot them once in the arm and once in the leg. Put your gun away and stand in front of them. Now watch the sucka struggle like an upside down tortoise. :D He can't call for back-up, can't shoot you and can't run away. Muhahahahaha! :p

[q=Kawaii Ryûkishi]Of course, it takes several punch-punch-kick combos to knock Snake out[/q]
Traquilizers won't work?

By the way, I didn't find out about Snake's dogtags until after I beat the game.

I got them all in MGS2. I never did try for them all in twin snakes and I don't think I will. Lack of total analog buttons helps to make it way too hard and not as much fun.

I got all the dogtags in MGS2: SoL, and I did that feat roughly two years ago. My passion to go through each difficulty in MGS2: Substance for each individual tag was kind of worn out, but I went through it anyway. So that would result in playing through the story of MGS2 at least ten times all together, just for the tags.

Remember, whenever there's a soldier out there that thinks he's a tough-shot and doesn't give up his tag instantly-- pull out your trusty grenade launcher or Stinger, and he'll give it up without having to waste any ammo shooting his limbs/within his vicinity.

But I like shooting them in the arms and legs :crying2:

I think everyone likes to shoot those cocky bastards once. "Are you going to shoot?" YES! Then after the soldier hands me the tag, I go a tad sadistic and off him... and then continually shoot him in the head until his group leader gets suspicious and sends in more men, only for me to go on a murderous rampage.

It's particularly funny to shoot them in their arm and leg, as well as disable their radio. That way, if you-- say, unequip your weapon, they'll waddle off, because they can't use their AK with a single arm, they can't properly walk, and they can't call in for backup from radio. It's hilarious to see them limp away so defenselessly.

I never bothered with the dog tags in Twin Snakes because the guards are both wimps and not Russian.

"Are you going to shoot me?" is replaced with "..No!" in a camp voice, or "Please don't kill me!" in an even wimpier one.

The lack of spine in Genome Soldiers made me sad.

The demo of MGS2 was even better for torturing guards. Differences are that in the Demo you can shoot out BOTH arms. Can't in the final version. Also in the Demo the guards could die of blood loss. I would let them start hobbiling away in the demo and all of a sudden they would stop and shake violently and fall dead on the ground.

I wish the full version was more violent than the demo.

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Originally Posted by edczxcvbnm

The demo of MGS2 was even better for torturing guards. Differences are that in the Demo you can shoot out BOTH arms. Can't in the final version. Also in the Demo the guards could die of blood loss. I would let them start hobbiling away in the demo and all of a sudden they would stop and shake violently and fall dead on the ground.

I wish the full version was more violent than the demo.

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In MGS2 you're free to take out both arms. Only problem is that a shot to the leg will then be fatal. You can shoot them in one limb about a dozen times, but if you hit three limbs once, they don't survive. Also, if you take out a guard's arms but leave his legs intact, he can still kick like a horse.

...As for dog tags, though...
I've got most of them for the Tanker chapter, but the Plant is causing difficulties. I can't surivive Fortune on Exteme difficulty, so I'm kind of stuck for now. I gave up after getting annihilated several times.

After holding up a guard, I always prefer to knock him unconscious with either an M9 shot or a good old-fashioned wallop to the groin.

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Originally Posted by Big D

I can't surivive Fortune on Exteme difficulty, so I'm kind of stuck for now. I gave up after getting annihilated several times.

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And Fortune's only the first boss encounter of the Plant chapter. Keep at her, though. Start measuring your blood pressure once you encounter the seemingly endless supply of Rays near the end, it's like Solidus found them at a friggin' garage sale.

The Rays become very predictable after you've observed their behavior enough. It's still tough for me, though, since I always have such little health left after the Tengu run that a single misstep means I have to start all over.

Oh, and don't even try the "tap Triangle to avoid suffocation" bit in Extreme mode without a turbo controller. The odds you'll survive using any of the plethora of techniques people have come up with are miniscule, and it's just not worth the stress of trying.

Fortunately, Solidus is universally easy.

I'm of the opinion that I'll just never complete Substance on every difficulty. The Tanker was easy enough on Extreme, but I got thwarted by Olga on Eurpean Extreme. Damned bullet-proof floodlights...
I doubt I'll make much progress in the Plant stage on Extreme difficulty, and the harder VR missions are just absurd.

I have never had any inclination to play the game on European Extreme. It doesn't even have its own set of dog tags.

It's more for novelty, feeling of completion and bragging rights. None of which I truly find are worth the hassle.

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

The Rays become very predictable after you've observed their behavior enough. It's still tough for me, though, since I always have such little health left after the Tengu run that a single misstep means I have to start all over.

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True enough, there just never seems to be a ration around when you truly need it. However, while the Rays may have a repetition to their strategies, having to go through as many as you do is tiresome. Sometimes you'll just forget their proximity and one just comes in and stomps you. Or while you're distracted trying to lock onto one, one of the idle Rays shoots a missile at you. Ugh.

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Originally Posted by Kishi

Oh, and don't even try the "tap Triangle to avoid suffocation" bit in Extreme mode without a turbo controller. The odds you'll survive using any of the plethora of techniques people have come up with are miniscule, and it's just not worth the stress of trying.

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It's especially brutal after, say-- five hours of trying to beat the Rays. I was able to somehow survive it without the aid of a turbo controller, but much health was lost in the process.

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Originally Posted by Shoyku

True enough, there just never seems to be a ration around when you truly need it. However, while the Rays may have a repetition to their strategies, having to go through as many as you do is tiresome. Sometimes you'll just forget their proximity and one just comes in and stomps you. Or while you're distracted trying to lock onto one, one of the idle Rays shoots a missle at you. Ugh.

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What makes it even worse for me is that, in addition to not killing anybody, I also always try to get through the game using zero rations.

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

What makes it even worse for me is that, in addition to not killing anybody, I also always try to get through the game using zero rations.

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There are rations in the Plant chapter at Extreme difficulty? I've never come across any; they'd certainly help me during the "cower and hide" non-fight against Fortune.

Shaking particular guards, with profound amounts of luck, will yield rations. I was speaking in terms of even Normal and Hard mode, though.

Am I the only person who didn't have much trouble tapping triangle to avoid suffication on Extreme mode? I lost a bit of life sometimes but it wasn't that hard to avoid doing.

I managed to do the suffocation bit without a turbo controler.
I took the head off an electric tooth brush and placed the metal part on the controler. Then it vibrates and taps the button relly quickly.

And the demo had loads of things that they cut out of the final version. You could get a famas with the gameshark, The blood was red, you could shoot 3 limbs and you could kill olga.

[q=Maxico]The blood was red[/q]
What non-demo version are you playing? I have the U.S. version, and the blood's red for me.

Red-er

The blood in the final version has a slight blue tinge.

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

Shaking particular guards, with profound amounts of luck, will yield rations. I was speaking in terms of even Normal and Hard mode, though.

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Snake would also hand you ration(s) during the Tengu mini-boss corridor.

Although I wish Kojima did leave in the FAMAS, and while it may not fit into the context of the Tanker chapter, he could've at least made it a dogtag reward, or something you can find after a number of playthroughs.

From what I've observed, Snake only throws you a Ration if your life is in the orange and you don't already have any.

I would like to say that getting a ration off a guard actually has nothing to do with luck. Specific guards carry them. When playing on extreme I was in dire need of a ration after I got done swimming with Emma(damage due to vamp). Turns out the only guard with a ration was a guy with a shield during an invasion mode. He had one EVERY time though as well as other guards through out the game. I still had to shake him like hell but he always had it with out fail.

I got all of teh dog tags on all of teh dificulty levels about a year ago. Then shortly afterwards my dog proceeded to piss on my memory card, and it broke...

As for how I did it... It's not hard really. I think the key is to having nothing to do over summer break.

Ooh, sorry 'bout that, nik0tine. Usually, the memory card should've been able to still function after that...unless the urine got inside of it.
About the summer break thing, that doesn't matter, I'm simply not as good at this game as others are. I've been able to get tags on very easy and easy mode so far, but I haven't tried anything else yet.

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Originally Posted by edczxcvbnm

I would like to say that getting a ration off a guard actually has nothing to do with luck. Specific guards carry them. When playing on extreme I was in dire need of a ration after I got done swimming with Emma(damage due to vamp). Turns out the only guard with a ration was a guy with a shield during an invasion mode. He had one EVERY time though as well as other guards through out the game. I still had to shake him like hell but he always had it with out fail.

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Even those specific guards sometimes won't ever drop them. There is chance involved.

I have never had that happen. I have always gotten it off said guards with out fail. I am not saying I am wrong but the odds they don't actually have it must be really low then.